Thanos Speaks! Josh Brolin Talks The Mad Titan's Return and His Place in the Marvel Universe

When it was announced that Josh Brolin would be the actor behind the villainous "Mad Titan" Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you were hard-pressed to find anyone with a bad thing to say about it. You don't complain when an actor as good as Brolin takes on one of the most famous and powerful comic book supervillains of all time. In true Marvel Studios fashion, the actor has remained fairly quiet about his work on the character, but he recently spilled the first details about the part and his role in the Marvel movies.

Speaking with IGN, Brolin spoke about how he landed the role in the first place. If you're expecting some kind of grand and epic tale, though, you're in for a disappointment. It ultimately boils down to the usual Hollywood casting story: he knew a guy who knew a guy, and he got the part. However, he also has some nice things to add about the studios' creative process and its choice of directors:

First and foremost, I have a really good friend who I've known for years who's the co-president of Marvel, Louis D'Esposito.I knew Louis as a first AD, and he's the one who initially called me, and then [producer] Jeremy Latcham. Then I talked to Kevin Feige, ultimately. But there's something about them that's so insular and so geeky and so real. I loved it -- because I've turned down a lot of those types of movies. Not Marvel, but I've turned down a lot of those types of movies. When they started telling me the story about them getting together in Palm Springs, nine of them flipping burgers and talking about what Thanos was going to do and going, 'What do you think?' like, 'Captain America's going to show up here!' Then, 'Oh my God, what if the Hulk came in at that point?' and all that -- I love that sh**. I love it, because those guys are absolutely saturated with that world, and they love story. Another thing that I really loved is, they said that they didn't use directors that did music videos and all that in the past. They would always look for people who had done stories. If you look at James Gunn's oeuvre, he's done even web series, but they're all stories.

However, the most important part of the interview came when Brolin seemingly revealed that the character's strangest (and most vital) trait will remain intact in the movies. In the comics, Thanos falls in love with the physical embodiment of Death and he does his villainous acts as part of a plan to win her approval. In fact, Brolin seems downright enthusiastic about this part of the character:

His relationship with Death, who is actually the woman, I love that. You can take 'Sin City' [in which Brolin plays a man obsessed with a dark-hearted woman] and pump it full of steroids, and then you have Thanos. I like that he's motivated by that -- not just motivated by destruction or death or this or that. He's motivated by a very identifiable, human trait.

As for when Thanos will pop up next, Brolin isn't talking. Even he isn't entirely sure when some of his next appearances will happen. Here's his cryptic quote:

I know what one appearance is going to be for sure. There's one or two that I don't know.

For a lot more, check out the original interview. You have plenty of time to kill before 'Avengers 2' opens on May 1, 2015.